Lifestyle

We all have a little something in our lives that we like to indulge in every now and then. It could be your favourite chocolate or bottle of wine, or even an indulgent night out somewhere special.

For me it is the LÓccitane Citrus Verbana range. I absolutely love it! For Christmas I was given a gift bag containing the entire range, I was very very impressed with Santa this year!! Whilst the Citrus Verbana is definitely my favourite by a long shot I do quite like the Rose perfume which I have been using for the last couple of months.

So whatever it is that is your little indulgence, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine!

It's not often that I get invited anywhere so I was absolutely thrilled to accept an invitation from a friend for lunch at McGettigan's Irish Pub. I wrote last week about my visit to The Bonnington Tower in Jumeirah Lake Towers and my dining experience in The Cavendish Restaurant. I must live in a bubble because this week I discovered the much talked about McGettigan's Irish Pub at the Bonnington Tower. I was aware that it was the winner of the What's On 2011, Best Pub Grub award, I was about to find out why.

Winding our way down the stairs to McGettigan's I was surprised at how big the area was and secluded too, which you would think was pretty impossible in an area like Jumeirah Lake Towers. The Pub itself is exactly how you would imagine an Irish Pub to be and I kept thinking of that drama filmed in Ireland, Ballykissangel. The lunch time menu is comprehensive and has something for everyone, there was too much to choose from if you are craving real pub grub, but it appeared that EVERYONE was ordering the fish and chips, waiters were carrying tray after tray of fish and chips, I was delighted when my "date" ordered them, I went for the more healthy option of an open prawn and avocado sandwich. The fish and chips were huge and come with massive hand-made chips and mushy peas. I had a little taste of the fish, it was fabulous!! My prawn and avocado sandwich didn't disappoint either, loads of prawns!!

There are some firm favourites on their menu, Irish Stew, Pork Bangers and Mash, Full Irish Breakfast with real bacon!! comes in two sizes with a "girly" portion for those not brave enough to take the main one! The sandwich that caught my eye was the Jumbo Breakfast Roll ... pork bacon, pork sausage, egg and mushrooms in a french baguette.

I was so impressed I went back today with The Geordie One, I had the smoked salmon, with roast beets, pea shoot and tartar sauce, and The Geordie One had the fish and chips and there were no complaints from her other than they were huge!

Biella Ristorante has always been a favourite of mine, my love affair with all things Biella started when I used to work at Wafi City many moons ago!! (they do a wicked mushroom soup!) When I was at Arte yesterday at Times Square, Biella were advertising a Full English Breakfast, with coffee, tea or juice for just 23 dhs! Obviously there are no pork items as pork can only be served in 5 Star establishments, but I have to say the picture looked rather tempting! You can avail this offer daily from 9 til 11.30 am. You are hard pushed these day to grab a coffee and a croissant for 23 dhs never mind a breakfast. However, I am not sure if this offer is available at their other outlets around Dubai so if you are thinking about trying one of their other outlets it might be worth giving them a call first.

I have to be honest and say that I am not a massive lover of ice cream, it's the kind of thing that you grow out of, grown-ups can't eat ice cream or can they? Obviously they do as the ice cream industry is quite literally huge!!

As you all know I am pretty fond of my social media and I am constantly asked questions about how effective it is and does it really work? can it really influence people into buying their brand or supporting their business. I know it works but there are millions of people out there who think that Social Media is a fad that is just what some term a new phase in marketing via the internet.

I recently followed a new account to twitter in our region, Cold Stone Creamery. I have been a customer at the Cold Stone before with Mitten, she loves their vanilla, I prefer the chocolate. Anyway I had been following the account for a few weeks when they started putting pictures of ice cream cakes up, I have NEVER had the urge to buy or even want an ice cream cake in my entire life. A few days passed and, yes you guessed it, I got into the car and drove to the nearest Cold Stone Creamery and bought an ice cream cake!!!

We had a pretty quiet Christmas, family were back in the Uk this year so we had a BBQ at home, just the three of us.

However for New Years Day I thought it would be nice to have lunch out somewhere instead of slaving in the kitchen making the traditional New Years Day roast. Since we moved to Al Barsha I had been saying we ought to check out the hotels that are on our doorstep, so I looked up Centro Barsha to see what they had on offer, I was quite pleasantly surprised with their lunch deal so went ahead and booked it.

The Centro Barsha is a small hotel which describes itself and being designed for a new generation of travelling Executives who demand finesse and functionality at reasonable rates. You can't beat a bit of finesse I have to say.

The first thing that struck me about the restaurant, C.Taste was how clean and well laid out it was. The staff were all warm and welcoming and made a fuss of Mitten. There was an excellent selection of salads on the salad bar, the Thai Beef being particularly nice. The selection of main courses was really good though I would say there could have been more choice of vegetables the day we dined. The lamb tagine was amazing so compliments to The Chef on that one. I don't think I have been to a Rotana yet that hasn't had a Pasta station, this was no exception, superb fresh pasta with a selection of sauces. The desserts were the usual array of sweet temptations that you find in the UAE, but I did enjoy the profiteroles immensely.

Lunch set us back 99 dhs a head including soft drinks, if we had wanted the alcohol package that would have been 139 dhs, I don't know anyone who would complain at those prices. You can find a list of all their theme nights/lunches by clicking on this link. Will we go back to Centro Barsha? yes too right we will!! going to check out the all you can eat Burger night later this month.